Blog post 10

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Once Upon a Time...

The TedTalk that I chose was called "A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided." This speech was presented by Anand Giridharadas. In his speech, he tells the story of two men, Raisuddin Bhuiyan of Bangladesh and  Mark Stroman of the United States. The story begins ten days after the events of September 11th. Stroman, seeking revenge for the attacks, was going around to mini-marts and killing people of Middle Eastern decent. Bhuiyan was the only of the victims of Stroman's attacks to survive. Bhuiyan after being in the hospital for a day had a lot of debt he had to pay so he couldn't take I.T. classes as originally planned. Even though he lost his wife to be Bhuiyan made the most of what he had. He got a job working at Olive Garden and had to go against his beliefs and sell alcohol and he did I.T. jobs part-time too. He eventually found a six-figure job with a company in Texas. As Bhuiyan's life changed for the better so did Stroman's though he was on death row. Stroman was introduced to pastors, pen-pals, and journalists that were there to help him as he questioned himself and the things he had done.

Eight years after the shooting and a pilgrimage to Mecca, Bhuiyan decided to not only publicly forgive Stroman for what he had done but he also was fighting to keep him from receiving the death penalty. A few hours before Stroman was executed he talked to Bhuiyan on the phone. Bhuiyan said he never hated Stroman and Stroman thanked him for everything and said that he loved him.Even after the execution Bhuiyan reached out to Stroman's eldest daughter who was dealing with addiction and said to her , "you may have lost a father, but you've gained an uncle."

Mark Stroman

Raisuddin Bhuiyan

Giridharadas uses the story to point out the two worlds that exists within America and show that the colliding of these two worlds may not be such a bad thing. He also wants to show that people can change and that everyone deserves a second chance. The speaker gets his point across primarily through the use of pathos. He uses images of Bhuiyan right after leaving the hospital to show that he was released before he should have been. This picture is intended to tug at the hearstrings and make the audience feel connected to the story. The picture allows the audience to put a face with the name that is being presented in the story. It gives the story more meaning by seeing and hearing as opposed to just hearing what Bhuiyan was faced with. Towards the end a picture is shown of Stroman and he is smiling into the camera. The choice of portraying him in a positive light in the picture as opposed to having him appear angry and seeking to kill is to show that people can change. No matter what a person may have done Giridharadas belivees that they deserve a scond chance to right their wrongs. Pathos is also used in the amount of detail given in the story. Giridharadas says,"dozens of scalding, birdshot pellets puncture his head," and " He cups a hand over his forehead to keep in the brains on which he'd gambled everything." The details from these tow quotes in particular are to make the audience feel sorry for hat Bhuiyan was faced with and to envoke feelings of sympathy in the audience. 

Giridharadas gets his point across by directly addressing the audience and explaining what he took away from the story of the two men. He wants to show that as humans we should give second chances and learn to forgivve people for the mistakes they make. He direcly addresses thae audience chahallenging them to embrace the philosophy that he has and be willing to give others second chances. This relates to me because there are times when I have questioned whether I should give someone a second chance or not. This caused me to refelct on the situations I have been in when I didn't want to give someone a second chance. It showed me that if someone was almost killed and was willing to give his attacker a second chance then I should be able to forgive others and give them a second chance. It also made me think about some of the things that I have done that I and the second chances that I was given. I realize that I shouldn't take these second chances for granted and that I should take them very seriously. This made me realize it is miportant to think before I act.

Double Indemnity

In Double Indemnity, like many other male leads in noir films, Walter Neff can be considered weak. Starting with his motivation. The only reason he was involved in the predicament that occured is because of his weak mind. He was distracted by the beauty that he saw in Phyllis Dietrichson. Neff was quick to submit to the request of  Mrs. Dietrichson even after he had expressed to her that he was not willing to help her achieve her goal of killing her husband. All it took for him to submit was the presistance of Phyllis. The second time that Phyllis sought assisstance from Neff in her plot against her husband he willingly joined and agreed to help. Neff can also be viewed as a weak coward because of the way that he went about killing Mr. Dietrichson. Mr. Dietrichson was not even given the chance to defend himself. He was killed in a surprise attack. This makes it seem as though Walter was aware that he may not be able to kill Mr. Dietrichson. Neff was aware of how weak he is and was not willing to take any risks so he had to make sure that there was no chance of any defence from Mr. Dietrchison. Walter Neff can also be seen as weak due to his actions after the murder. He was full of fear and was worried that he would be caught. When people became suspicious about the death of Mr. Dietrchison, Neff always appeared nervous. As a result of the nerves he had Neff lied in order to try to shift the blame to someone else.

Life is but a Netflix queue created by an idiot...

Watched by Macbeth

1. Resident Evil (movie series)

This movie is about a lady who has survived the zombie apocalypse. She is the last hope to save the world from the virus. Macbeth just before his battle with Macduff would have watched this movie. He feels just like Alice, invincible. He has all the confidence in the world that he is safe from the prophecy that the witches gave him. He feels that nothing natural nor supernatural can stop him and is willing to face all that come in his way. This reveals that Macbeth had become overconfident and cocky. He believed that he could do anything that he wanted and that it would not catch up with him.

2.The Sixth Sense

This movie is about a boy who has the gift of seeing ghosts of those who have unresolved problems, but he is too afraid to tell anyone except his psychologist. Macbeth recommends this because he recalls the dinner party where he was visited by the ghost of Banquo. He knew he was the only one who could see him. Macbeth hoped to have someone like the psychologist in the movie that he could share what he was seeing, but he did not have this luxury. He felt alone as the boy did until he was introduced to his psychologist. Macbeth did not want to seem crazy to all of the people at the party so he kept his visions to himself. Macbeth sees a lot of his old self in the innocence of the boy. This reveals that Macbeth feels guilty about all the things that he has done. He desires to go back to the innocence that he once had and the guilt is eating him up on the inside. He regrets doing what he has done over the course of the play and it is affecting his conscious and sub-conscious.

3. Empire

Empire is about a wealthy family of musicians who own their own music label. The three sons are willing to do whatever it takes in order to take their father's place as the head of the empire. This show is recommended by Macbeth because of the determination of the three sons. They were willing to do whatever they needed to do in order to gain their father's place as the head of the Empire even if that meant killing. Macbeth was motivated by this show to kill the guards of Duncan to keep witnesses from expressing the truth just as Lucious Lyon killed Bunkie. He was also motivated to take out Banquo by the sons' search for their father's favor. This shows that Macbeth, like the sons of Empire, was determined to gain as much power as possible. He wanted to take Duncan place and once he began his corruption the corruption continued. This shows that Macbeth is easily manipulated by his desire for power.

4. How To Get Away With Murder

This show is about a law professor and defense attorney, Annalise Keating. She takes a group of students under her wing and as the students help her work on her cases, mysteries arise and the true nature of the group is revealed. Recommended by Macbeth, specifically for the character Wes. Macbeth says, "I can relate to Wes so well. He was viewed as the innocent one and seeing him commit murder gave me the strength to take care of Duncan. I feel the same guilt now that he was faced with." Macbeth says he feels manipulated by Lady Macbeth in the same way that Wes was manipulated by Annalise. "The way that Wes found the strength to take matters into his own hands when he had done what he had to do was what gave me the strength to keep going." This reveals how Macbeth changed over the course of the play. He was originally innocent but as the events of the play occurred he had to do what he had to do to  keep going. This also shows that Macbeth is easily susceptible to suggestion.

Witch-slapped: Macbeth's fall from grace

1. Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking that first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

People who are not evil take the first steps toward evil because they have are influenced by others or they have a desire for power. These conditions can be seen by examining Macbeth and his thoughts and actions.


The first steps toward evil for Macbeth for example came after he heard the prophecy of the witches. After hearing them say "All hail, Macbeth, thou salt be king hereafter!" Macbeth realized his potential. He realized that he had the qualities of a leader and that he could obtain more power and influence in society than he had before. He never had considered the idea of being a king before this point and the influence of the witches led him to become obsessed with seeking power. Macbeth was not only influenced by his wife. Lady Macbeth had a large impact on Macbeth's decisions. After thinking about the letter that Macbeth sends to her she says to him "Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't." She says that Macbeth appears to be innocent since he has just eliminate a traitor of King Duncan. She encourages him to act as a serpent or a snake and kill Duncan instead so that Macbeth could take his place as king. She also reassures him and tells him they can't fail, influencing him in his decision - "But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail." 


Lady Macbeth's constant influence on her husband as well as Macbeth's new desire for power after meeting the three witches is what is involved in him taking the first step. He tells himself that "If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing in a truth?" Once he believes that what he is doing is for the best and being influenced by the witches' prophecy, he is willing to take the first step in evil. Macbeth himself recognizes his new ambition when he says "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition." The floating dagger also influences him as he believes in the power of the supernatural and interprets the dagger as a sign to kill the King. When Macbeth says that the dagger is leading him to the place he was going to, he is even more determined and therefore influenced towards evil. 

The consequences of choosing evil are the guilt that comes with doing evil actions, shown when Macbeth kills Duncan and says "I'm afraid even to think about what I've done. I can't stand to look at it again." Macbeth doesn't want to go back and look at the murder because he knows he did evil and feels guilty for murdering his King to who he owed his loyalty. When choosing evil Macbeth also questions his actions and even goes as far as to say "Had I died but an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time, for from this instant There's nothing serious in mortality." He feels so guilty and resentful of his own actions that he says there is nothing worth living for anymore. This creates an internal struggle as he has achieved his desire for power but feels guilty and wishes he had not done it. 

#IBmakingart

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/63.12

The Cloisters Cross, 12th century
English
Walrus ivory; 22 5/8 x 14 1/4 in. (57.5 x 36.2 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1963 (63.12)

The cross is a direct display of the importance of Christianity during this time period. The Cloister Cross has different depictions on each side which have different meanings.

This side of the cross reads "the earth trembles, death defeated groans with the buried one rising./ life has been called, synagogue  has collapsed with great foolish effort." and "Cham laughs when he sees the naked private parts of his parent/ the Jews laughed at the pain of God dying." From this it is clear that the artist was clearly a Christian. Based on the words inscribed into the piece it seems that Jews were looked down upon. Based on this time period negative views of Jews by Christians was not uncommon especially in England where the cross draws its origins from.

In the picture of this side the top appears to resemble the hilt of a sword with the long extending bottom being a blade. This appears to be in reference to all of the wars and fighting that has been going on during this period. 

Each of the three outer most points has groups of people gathered together. It is as though these people are looking up toward the sky or perhaps toward heaven. This appears to be representative of God as the Father. This portion of the Holy Trinity being the one that resides in heaven watching down on Earth as is seen frequently throughout the Christian faith. At the right there is a man with his arms stretched out as though he is on a cross surrounded by many other people. This portion of the cross depicts the death of Jesus on the cross. The left portion of the cross difficult to see from this picture, but it seems that the three outer portions are intended to represent the Holy Trinity.

At the bottom of the cross are a man and a woman that are holding on to what I interpreted at the swords blade earlier. This could be another reference to the Bible and the man and women could be Adam and Eve. The blade of the sword is the tree of life from which they took fruit when they were told not to by God. The very tree which they held on to ended up causing them pain just as a sword is the creation of humans but has only caused pain to other humans.

On this side of the cross the larger images are more animalistic. Based the book The Cloisters Cross: Its Art and Meaning By Elizabeth C. Parker, Charles T. Little the animals are (to the right) the ox of Saint Luke, (to the left) the Lion of Saint Mark and (at the top) the Eagle of Saint John. They are perhaps displayed because they are the ones that Christians looked up to. There is a missing section at the bottom which may have been reserved for Matthew. The shaft of the cross holds other people who must have been prophets or disciples as well. In the center of the cross there is a carving of a lamb. This represents the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is Jesus and because of this majority of the figures on this side of the cross are looking toward the center. The portion of the cross running between the Lion and the Ox appear to hold even more people looking toward the center of the cross. They are looking toward Jesus even though he is being slain in they will continue to keep their eyes on him and follow him. The few figures that do look away must represent those who betrayed Jesus or will not follow the path that he set for them.

Blog post 10/11

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